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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

We've been very busy planning the relocation of the Hardwick CommunityGardens to Atkins Field on Granite Street and taking the first steps these past few weeks in preparing for the big move.

This week, LG Bellavance & Sons has transformed the new site for a garden space by removing brush, moving granite blocks and creating structures like a small amphitheater. The current ATV/VAST Trail is being relocated to skirt the tree line and to ensure there is continued access and a walking trail has been cleared closer to the garden site.

In addition, two acres behind the granite shed has been cleared away for future agricultural uses; a sample raised bed of local wood from Under Orion Farm has been constructed and then coated with Vermont Natural Coatings; and the CommunityGardens sign has been resurrected next to the new site. Please join us this Friday, July 27th, at 4:00 pm at 150 Granite Street/Atkins Field, (same location as the Hardwick Farmers' Market) to discuss what has already been done, current plans, and to get input from communitymembers about what they'd like to see.

We at the CAE would like to share with you the vision and plans of the CommunityGardens and Atkins Field as a whole.

How does measuring happiness and well-being relate to the
work I do at the Center for an
Agricultural Economy (CAE) and the general work of the organization? The CAE’s mission is to, “bring together community resources and
programs needed to develop a locally based food system that supports the desire
of rural communities to rebuild their economic and ecological health.” We, as an organization, must reflect
on why we want to develop the local food system in the first place? What are our intended outcomes of doing
so? We need to have a vision of the
larger impacts of our work. What
benefits does our work have for individual citizens and the community as a
whole?

There are four main outcomes of a healthy food system that
have developed through my work here and are also reflected in other
work that I have come across in my research, which also happen to reflect
well-being, in general:

Healthy Communities

Robust & Equitable
Local Economy

Food Security

Healthy Environment

A portion of my work here at the CAE has been measuring the
health of the local food system and the well-being of the Hardwick-area. My Master’s Thesis, A Framework for
Monitoring Local and Regional Food Systems, which I worked on while here at
the CAE, took a holistic approach to measuring the health of food systems and
includes all the various elements that make up a food system (Farms, Food Waste
Recycling, Processing, etc), as well as those four outcomes. This also includes measures on well-being to
reflect “Healthy Communities” as one of the intended outcomes of a healthy food
system. Some of the specific indicators
relating to this that were developed include:

·Percent
of respondents who participate in bartering

·Percent
of farms who participate in bartering

·# of Buffalo
Mountain Co‐op members (total members & working members)

·# of
members of North Country Farming Network

·Percent
of registered voters who voted in most recent mid‐term election

·Percent
of respondents who indicated that they currently volunteer

·Average
score on community satisfaction index

·Average
score on the “Well‐being Index”

·Homeownership
rate

·Crimes
against property: Number of property crimes / 1000 pop.

·Crimes
against people: Number of crimes against people / 1000 pop.

The intentions of the above
indicators (there are a total of 200+) are to get an accurate sense of
community vitality, engagement, and well-being.
Other indicators look specifically at details relating to farming, food
processing, etc. The data for this portion
of the larger framework is being collected from area organizations, state and
federal data sources and via community survey.

In rural areas where farming is
integral to the community - and even in more urban areas where we’re seeing the
development of more urban agriculture and increased engagement in the
production of food – we need to consider the health of the food system when
considering our greater well-being, and vice versa. Food is one of our basic human needs and for
true well-being we need to have healthy food and a healthy food system.

The Measuring What Matters Conference and these
conversations will be part of the ongoing process of creating the
state-mandated well-being index for Vermont.
It really is exciting to see this coming together – another
way that this small and humble state is leading the way!

Each farm was approved for a
zero percent interest Emergency Loan of either $5,000 or $10,000 and with the
exception of Evening Song Farm who is still seeking land, all are back on their
feet and farming again!

Sweet Rowen Farmstead, after
losing their processing facility last summer, had a grand “re-opening” in
Albany on Mother’s Day this year and is selling their gently pasteurized, grass
fed milk to local retail outlets including the Capitol City Farmers’ Market in
Montpelier.

Kingsbury Market Garden, a
two year old farm in Warren, Vermont, lost a good portion of their soil and
crop to the storm waters of Irene last August. After receiving the Vermont Farm
Fund Emergency loan,, Suzanne and Aaron are back in business, streamlining
their operations and enjoying great demand for their products.

Joe’s Brook Farm, located in
St. Johnsbury experienced near total losses of their fall crop to Tropical
Storm Irene. The timeliness of the VFF Emergency loan allowed them to take
advantage of the good spring weather and put the devastating losses of last
summer behind them.

On June 1st, we
launched the second phase of our Vermont Farm Fund, the Innovative LoanProgram. This loan program will be used to support farms who are innovating to increase the diversity of
local foods available in Vermont. This “new” program, the original intention of
the Vermont Farm Fund when it was first established in March 2011, was put on
the back burner in August 2011, so we could respond swiftly to the needs of our
agricultural community when it was devastated by Tropical Storm Irene. With
your overwhelmingly generous response, we were able to do exactly that and now,
we are excited to begin building a revolving loan fund that will move our food
system forward. Now, we willcontinue to receive donations for the
Emergency Loan program alongside the Innovative Loan program.

You make it possible. You
are powerful. You provide hope and encouragement to our farmers to keep
farming, even after devastating loss. Thank you.

On Saturday, August 18th, events will include a bike tour
hosted by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, and guided tours at Pete’s Greens
Farm. On Sunday, August 19th there will be tours and workshops at High
Mowing Organic Seeds' Trial and Showcase Garden and a Local Foods Showcase of
fully local, donated food prepared by New England Culinary Institute (NECI)
students.

The event is also looking for volunteers to help the weekend’s activities run
smoothly! Opportunities include helping with the set up and break down of
events, being a compost station monitor or parking officer, and much more. If
you are interested, please contact Elena Gustavson at center@hardwickagriculture.org.

The Center for an Agricultural Economy's Fan Box

Our Goals

• Broadly reach out to all area residents to embrace and support the Center’s vision, and assure this broad vision is owned by citizens of the greater Hardwick (Vermont) region;

• Convene residents of Hardwick and surrounding communities to develop the cultural and physical infrastructure needed to support the many food and agricultural ventures that are emerging in the region and beyond, and share in the benefits these changes will bring to the economy throughout Vermont;

• Build relationships with the regions’ other non-profit agricultural organizations to help support increasing their efforts in the greater Hardwick area and coordinate so efforts are not duplicated and resources are maximized; and

• Modeling, communicating, and sharing our progress with other communities to help support the rebuilding of healthy food systems throughout Vermont and beyond.